Stamp of the Day

"A visit to Dr. Thoreau" is the journey I'm going on with today's #stampoftheday, a 5-cent stamp picturing Henry David Thoreau, author of "Walden or Life the Woods," which was published on August 9, 1854. The stamp itself was issued on July 12, 1967, which would have been Thoreau's 150th birthday and was my 10th …

While today's #stampoftheday pictures two extraordinarily (almost scarily) wholesome youth, the story behind the stamp leads me to some of my favorite lyrics from West Side Story (with a brief stop at an iconic 1990s movie as well). The stamp itself is a 3-cent stamp issued on August 11, 1948 with the heading "Saluting Young America" …

"And now for something completely different" - a postage stamp encased in metal, complete with advertising on one side. This is not a commercial oddity. Rather, during the Civil War, it was a replacement for coins that became scarce during the civil war. And, with apologies to Monty Python, it's today's #stampoftheday because on August …

Two timely clarion calls - one for robust federal action, the other (from a notably conservative Supreme Court) on the limits of executive power - are messages conveyed by today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on August 15, 1933 to spread the word about the newly created National Recovery Administration (NRA). A centerpiece of recently elected …

Oddly enough, today's #stampoftheday, which features flora from four different parts of the US, captures a thought I had in the shower last night, not long after I posted yesterday's #stampoftheday. It occurred to me that in the "before time" (i.e the time before COVID), we would often travel and one of the things I loved …

Today's #stampoftheday travels to four important and very timely ethereal places (in contrast to yesterday's stamp, which went to four distinct and important parts of the United States). A 3-cent stamp issued on August 24, 1953 that marked the 75th anniversary of the American Bar Association, it shows four figures—representing Wisdom, Justice, Divine Inspiration, and …

There's something poignant about the image and subject of today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on August 29, 1049 to commemorate the last (and 83rd) annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization of men who had fought for the Union in the Civil War. While the GAR had more than …

The Palomar Mountain Observatory, one of the world's most iconic and important scientific facilities, comes into to focus as todays #stampoftheday and, in doing so, provides some wise advice on life. The stamp in question is a 3-cent stamp issued in on August 30, 1948 that depicts the observatory, which in 1949 began using the 200-inch …

The diminished importance of the American labor movement, the declining economic fortunes of working-class white Americans, and the ominous rise of violent ethnic nationalism can all be found in today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp marking Labor Day issued on September 3, 1956. Like most of the stamps from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s that I've been …